Automatic fire-trap for elevator-shafts



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. AT. G. LAMB. AUTOMATIC FIRE TRAP FOR BLEVATOR SHAFTS.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2'.V

T.- G, LAMB. AUTOMATIC FIRE TRAP POR ELBVATOR SHAPTS.

Patented Peb. 6, 1894.

mvEN'roRS QM 7W y UNITED STATES VPATENT irren.

THOMAS G. LAMB, HOMESTEAD, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO GEORGE F. PITTS, OF DUQUESNE, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMATIC FIRE-TRAP FOR ELEVATOR-SHAFTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part 0f Letters Patent No. 514,423, dated February 6, 1894.

Application led October 26,1893. Serial No.489,209 (No model.) l

To all whom it may con/cern.- construction enables me to apply my inven- Be it known that l, THOMAS G. LAMB, of tion to buildings having any desired number Homestead, in the county of Allegheny and of floors, say twenty, and requiring but little State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain room for the weights to work in, while if the 5 new and useful Improvements in Automatic weights were one along side of the other 55 Fire-Traps for Elevator-Shafts; and Ido hereand a separate one for each corner of the by declare the following to be a full, clear and door, it would require a shaft or a slideway eXact description of the invention, such as for the weights forty times the width of a sinwill enable others skilled in the art to which gle weight, which would therefore make such 1o it pertains to make and use it, reference ben a construction impractical it not impossible 6o mg had to the accompanying drawings, which of application. form part of this specification. Another object of my invention is to jour v My invention relates to improvements in nal the pulleys over which the doors for the Y automatic lire traps for elevator shafts; and lower chains pass, so that they lie face against 15 it consists in the particular construction, arthe wall of the shaft, which enables me to 6 5 rangement and combination of parts which place them in the space ordinarily left bewill be fully described hereinafter and parltween the car and the shaft without disturbticularly pointed out in the claims. ing or changing even in the slightest manner My invention has relation to that class of the walls of the shaft to accommodate the 2c elevator shafts which are provided witha sepulleys, which would not be the case if pul- 7o ries of doors or plates above and below the leys of proper size were placed edgewise to car which are automatically left at each landthe wall; and to use two pulleys at the upper ing or door as the car ascends or descends, end of the shaft for each chain, so that it eX- and one object of my invention is to so artends upward in a line from the point of atz 5 range, construct and combine the parts that tachmentto the door, and downward ata point y 5 it is not necessary to change or alter the inabout midway between the edge of the door terior wall of the shafts now in use, and which to which it is attached and has its opposite can be equally as well applied to one style or end connected to one side of a weight. shape of elevator as another. A further object of my invention is to pro- 3o A further object of my invention is to supvide yielding stops for the lower doors, and 8o port the lower doors or plates by weights in yielding supports for the upper doors, for the snchamannerthat the foursupporting chains purpose of having them stop gradually and or ropes for each door are attached to two substantially noiselessly to prevent thumpweights in contradistinction to using four ing, which would otherwise be the case, and

3 5 weights, which construction has two imporwhich would be extremely objectionable. 85 tant advantages. First, when an y part of one In the accompanying drawings, Figurel is of the lower doors bind from any reason, the a sectional view of an elevator shaft and car, chain attached to the unbound portion is with my invention applied thereto, the carbe- -slackened which throws the whole heft ofthe ing shown at'the top of the shaft. Fig. Zisa 4o weight upon the binding portion, which will similar View with the car at the bot-tom of the 9o always be sufcient to carry it up, and cause shaft. Fig. 3 is a perspective of a series of thedoorto ascend evenly. Second, it enables lower floors showing the supporting chains me to dispense with one half thc number of attached thereto, the safety guide-rail, and weights, thus reducing the cost of constrncthe stops. Fig. 4 is a vertical section of an 45 5011- elevator shaft and car showing a modified 95 Another object el my invention is to have form of arranging the supporting chains for all the weights moving in a single guideway, the lower doors. Fig. 5 is a detached plan one below the other, and the upper weights view of one of the doors. Fig. 6 is asimilar in avertical line between the two cords which view of a door for a triangular elevator shaft. 5o are connected to the weight below it. This Fig. 7 is asectional view looking down on one roo o f the yielding stops. Fig. 8 is averticalsectional view showing one of the yielding stops. Fig. 9 is an enlarged view of a portion of one of the doors showing the safety guide rail. Fig. lO are detached views of the upper doors. Fig. 1l is a similar view of the lower doors. Fig. 12 is a detached enlarged view of one of the weights.

A represents an elevator shaft of any desired construction, and B the several floors of the building in which it is placed.

C is a series of upper doors which are carried ou top of the car asy it ascends and which follow it as it descends,each succeeding door beginning with the upper one being stopped and supported at the iioors as the car descends. The automatic stopping of these doors successively as the car descends is accomplished by providing a series of stops E projecting from opposite sides of the walls of the shaft, out of a vertical line one with the other and by providing each succeeding door after the top one with slots F in their edges which are made widest in the lower door to permit it to pass the upper stops and narrower in the door next above and so on, thus causing each succeeding door to engage the proper set of stops to support it at the proper floor as the car descends as will be clearly understood.

D D', D2, D3 is a series of doors belowT the car, and to opposite sides or corners of these doors chains a, a', ce2, a3 are attached, the opposite ends of these chains being attached to the weights b, b', 192,113, at the center of the adjacent wall of the elevator shaft.

Attention is directed to the fact that the two chains at one end of the door pass up the shaft and over two pulleys d, and thence inward and downward to opposite sides of a single weight, the weights having' projecting arms for that purpose. It will also be noticed that the projecting arms of each succeeding weight below the top one are made slightly longer than the arms of the weight above, so that the chains extending upward from the Weight below are clear from the arms and chains of the weight above, and that the two pulleys at the top of the shaft over which the chains pass are placed one series above the other, and each succeeding series beginning with the lower are slightly farther apart so that the chains for the upper pulleys are outside of the chains of the lower series of puleys. i

As the car descends each door remains in its place closing the shaft at that point until the car reaches it and carries it down, thus entirely shutting all draft from one tloor of the building to the one above or below no matter at what point of the building the car may be.

The pulleys CZ, are placed with their face or sides to wall of the shaft, for the purpose pre- ,viously set forth.

the upper and lower doors abut, consist of the outwardly extending lugs s, which have at their inner ends projectionsf, both of which slide in suitable castings placed in an opening between the floor and ceiling of each story of the building, and that'these stops are provided with springs above and below them, for the purpose specified.

lf thought necessary springs h, of any desirable construction, or cushions, may be placed upon the corners of adjacent faces of the upper and lower doors, so that as they come together, the noise will also be prevented and lessened thereby.

Each door is provided with plates m, having recesses fn., which receive the lateral anges of the safety guide rails p. lf these rails were not provided the upper doors would be liable to bind and turn edgewise and descend headlong upon and through `the top of the'car. By providing the guide-rails however, all possibility of such an occurrence 1s entirely avoided, and the doors compelled to descend evenly.

It will of course be understood that the weights for the lower doors are sufficient to overcome their weight so that they are automatically raised behind the car as it ascends. So also the lower doors are stopped in the same manner as the upper doors, by having the slots at their edges increase in width from the lower to the upper one as clearly shown in Fig. ll.

In Fig. 4 I show a modified form of arrangement of the pulleys for the chains, in which event I have the pulleys d arranged below IOO each floor in succession, instead of arranging all of them at the top, whereby a great multiplication of the chains at the corners of the shaft throughout the entire length thereof is avoided as clearly illustrated.

From the above description it will be seen that I have produced a fire trap for elevator shafts which is thoroughly automatic in its operation, closing the opening at each iloor as the car ascends or descends, and which is so constructed that it is capable of being placed within a very small space of the ele` vater shaft without changing the Walls thereof, or making any alteration therein, the only cutting required being the small openings between the floor and ceiling of each story for the yielding stops; and which construction is cheap, simple, durable and reliable in its action.

Having thus described my invention, what l claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination with an elevator shaft and car, of a series of vertically moving horizontal doors, two supporting connections at each side or end of each door, and a single weight for each two connections.

2. The combination with an elevator shaft and car, of a series of vertically moving horizontal doors, a single weight for each end or side of each door, the weights at end or side IIO IZO

being in a vertical line one fabove the other, and connections between the ends or sides'of the'doors and the weights.

3. The combination with an elevator shaft and car, of a series of vertically moving horizontal doors, a chain for each corner of the doors, two pulleys at the upper end of the shaft for each chain, and weights which are connected to the ends of the chains.

4. The combination with an elevator shaft and car, of a series ot' vertically moving horizontal doors, a chain for each corner of each door extending upward therefrom and across inward toward the center of the shaft, and a single weight for two of said chains at each end of the doors, to which the opposite ends of the chains are connected at each side thereof.

5. The combination with an elevator shaft and car of a series of vertically moving horil tical line one above the other, a chain for each corner of each door which extends upward and downward to opposite sides o t their respective weights, the connecting points of each weight being farther separated than the connecting points of the weight above, whereby the upper weights travel between the chains attached to the lower weights.

6. The combination with an elevator shaft 3o and car, of a series of doors above and below the car, and a series ot yielding stops for the doors.

7. The combination with an elevator shaft and car of a series of doors moving vertically 3 5 with the car, and a series of spring supported stops which project into the shaft.

In testimony whereof I attlx my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS G. LAMB.

Witnesses:

A. S. PATTIsoN, GEO. E. FRECH. 

